


Provisos in the Fine Print

by chikiko (Chikiko)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Swan Queen Week 2015
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 06:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3371036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chikiko/pseuds/chikiko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[SWQ:D4] With the breaking of the Curse, Emma must now deal with the realization that fairy tales are real and everything has just gone crazy within the town. If all that wasn't bad enough, Regina has been acting very differently and now she is going to have to deal with it before someone else tries to deal with it themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Provisos in the Fine Print

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Chrmdpoet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrmdpoet/gifts).



A/N: This is my first Swan Queen fic.  I am so glad to be getting it out there.  I actually finished this a long time ago, but I couldn’t find anyone to Beta it.  So i just sat on it until one of my coworkers encouraged me to continue.  So I sent out some PMs and I got some replies.  Thank you so much to those who helped me get this fic to the place it is now.   This will be a now late addition to the Swan Queen Week Day 4: Canon Divergence.  This fic will start out at the end of the Season 1 Finale and diverge quickly from there.   

I know it’s pretty long for just the first chapter.  We’ll have to see how long future chapters will get.  Thank you all for reading and let me know what you think.

******/

 

Regina struggled against the bonds of the chair to which she was tied.  She was seething! Not only because of her current predicament, but because she couldn’t even struggle against it.  She simply had to allow it to happen.  The former Evil Queen couldn’t understand what the imp was doing. For hundreds of years, it was well known that although making a deal with The Dark One didn’t usually end as intended, the man always followed through.  As such, none of this was making any sense.  Gold always kept his deals, so why would he choose now, of all times, to stop.

The sound of the elevator coming up drew her attention.  She turned her head as best she could to see the elevator entrance.  What she saw turn her blood to ice.  Gold was trying to sabotage the elevator, while Emma was on her way up with the vial.  She redoubled her efforts to escape, but unfortunately her bonds wouldn’t budge.  She heard a loud screeching sound followed by a thud.  For a second she feared the worst, but then she heard Emma’s voice coming from the shaft.

The mayor’s relief that the Sheriff and the vial of True Love magic she was transporting were safe was quickly dashed, when that worm of a man told the blonde woman that Regina had sabotaged the elevator before abandoning her.  The brunette tried to get free once again, trying to make as much noise as possible to clue the woman in on the deception.  But not even a minute later, she saw Gold clutching some kind of egg and hobbling his way out of the library. Clenching her fists, she felt her blood beginning to boil as the man give her a mock salute before exiting the door.  How she hated that man!

She heard Emma call out for Gold a few times, before she went quiet again.  For the next several minutes the only noise she heard was the occasional thump coming from the elevator shaft.  She wasn’t sure what made those noises; she could only hope it was the blonde trying to climb her way out.  She was relieved when she saw the blonde's hand reach up out of the elevator shaft.  She struggled with her bonds once more, unwilling to let herself appear any more helpless than what was already being forced upon her.

The mayor couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable from the looks Emma gave her.  As she poked her head out of the shaft there was a mix of happiness and relief on her face, as if she were glad Gold had lied to her.  Once the blonde took in her situation, however,  her eyes widened with concern.  Running to her side, the younger woman called out to her.  “Regina!”  When she reached her, Emma immediately tore off the tape that served as her gag, before reaching over to begin undoing the ropes that held her bound.

This, of course, baffled the former Evil Queen.  How could this woman, the Savior herself, be concerned about her after she’d learned who she really was and what she had done?  It wasn’t fathomable.  Honestly, she couldn’t even understand why she was untying her.  If the girl had any sense, she should’ve just left her.  It would even be justifiable, since the time she spent untying her could have instead been used to catch up to Gold.  Instead, she was on her knees in front of her trying to help untie her.

Unable to understand or deal with any of it, she sought out familiar ground by lashing out.    “He tricked you!  How could you give him that?”

Untying the last of her bounds, her savior was of course nonplussed by her harsh words.  Instead the blonde just looked up to her for guidance with hope in her eyes.   “Where is he?”

Again the mayor couldn’t understand it. She chose to ignore it in favor of answering the blonde’s question. “Gone.” But why? It didn’t make sense. Why would he make a deal to help them save Henry, only to break his deal and run off with the potion? None of it made any sense, but one thing was painfully obvious. He played them. “Gold!” She said, grounding out his name in anger. “He manipulated all of this.”

The sheriff stood and began making her way to the front door. “Come on, he can’t be that far.”  Regina had only taken a couple of steps toward the younger woman when she felt her phone vibrating, quickly followed by its ringtone. She was going to ignore it when Emma’s phone began ringing not even a second later. They both stopped and paled.  Emma quickly reached down for her phone and looked at its display. “It’s the hospital.”  

Once again she felt her blood turn to ice, a feeling that was becoming far too familiar today. The phone in her pocket kept ringing, but she didn’t have the strength to pick it up. Instead, she just listened to the one sided conversation Emma was having. She saw the blonde pale, and the ice in her veins reached her heart, piercing and constricting it all at the same time. The Sheriff nodded her head and said, “We’ll be right there”.

Without needing to discuss it, they  both immediately ran to Emma’s car. The blonde didn’t bother buckling her seatbelt or even just checking that she had closed the car door,  before she gunned the patrol car and flipped the lights and siren. As they drove through the intersection, the God forsaken ice returned as she was hit with a horrible wave of déjà vu. The last time she had ridden in this car with the lights on and sirens blazing, it had also been because of a child.  She had lost the child that time; she prayed that it wouldn’t happen again.

She was shaken from her thoughts as the car swerved. Turning to Emma, she saw the blonde belatedly trying to buckle her seatbelt while trying to steer the car at high speed. Loosening the vice like grip she had on the door handle she reached over and took the belt from Emma and buckled her in so she didn’t accidentally kill them. The blonde spared her a quick glance and simply said “Thanks.”

She didn’t respond. She placed a hand over her heart trying to steady it and continued her prayer that Henry be okay. Not long after that, they finally reached the hospital. Emma drove right through the reserved ambulance lane and parked the car in front of  the emergency room entrance.  Not bothering to turn off the car, they quickly  exited and ran towards Henry’s room in the ICU. They were almost there when Dr. Whale and Mother Superior came out of the room, heads held low. Dr. Whale looked at them and said, “We did everything we could.”

Mother superior gave them a sad look. “I’m sorry. You’re too late.”

That is when it happened. The ice that had been flowing through her veins, that had surrounded her heart while piercing and squeezing, finally won. The pain was unimaginable. Nothing in her life could have prepared her for this moment. None of her mother’s beatings, or the many betrayals she’d felt at the hands of people she had loved and trusted could compare to this. No, not even Daniel’s death at the hands of her own mother could remotely compare to the pain of seeing her little boy lying dead on the bed. Dead because of her. She felt the tears falling, as she saw a nurse turn off an instrument and remove his oxygen mask.

It was all her fault! He was dead because…. God, she didn’t even know why. Why did she do it? The blonde was going to leave, why didn’t she just let her go? Hell, she could have just told the woman that she could take him to dinner every Tuesdays and Thursdays. That might have been enough for them and he might have even begun warming up to her again. But no, she caused all of this because she couldn’t back down, because she couldn’t open herself up just the tiniest bit to this woman.  A woman who despite knowing the truth and everything that happened between them, still trusted her and had been concerned for her when she was betrayed by Rumple. Because of all that, her sweet little boy was dead. Her Henry was dead.

She saw Emma, tears streaming down her face, approach the bed.  As much as she wanted to join her, it was too much for her to handle.  He was so pale and it just hurt so much to look at him right now. “No... No.”

Turning away from the pair, she began sobbing on Whale’s shoulder.  When Emma spoke, she could hear the raw sorrow in her voice,  “I love you Henry.”

The kiss that followed that statement was soft and she only barely heard it.  She didn’t have long to contemplate it or much of anything else, as she felt a huge surge of magical energy blast out from where they were.  It was so unlike any kind of magic she ever felt.  It was so strong and so pure, but without any trace of dark emotions powering it.  It was all love, hope, and joy.  It was like what she once felt with Daniel only it was infinitely magnified.

She didn’t have long to consider it, as almost as soon as the wave passed through her she heard Henry sit up and gasp.  Turning to face them, she saw him alive and well.  A fresh set of tears cascaded down her cheeks, though now they were tears of joy.

“I love you, too.  You saved me.”  She heard him say.  Another time that would probably have angered her.  Seeing her son alive and happy, even if that emotion was directed toward Emma and the ridiculous look of shock on her face, she couldn’t help but be happy.

She began to move toward the two.  “You...." She was suddenly interrupted as she felt something strong and powerful slam into her from all sides.   As she was buffeted about by the seemingly invisible force, she could only imagine that this must be what it felt like to be too close to a bomb blast.  When it was over, she fell forward and was caught by a pair of warm arms.  Still feeling a strong wave of vertigo, she looked up to see it was Emma who had saved her from falling.

“Regina?  Are you okay?  What was that?”

Regina leaned heavily on her savior due to the dizziness that was affecting her.  “I... I don’t know.”

For a moment Emma looked completely lost holding the mayor in her arms, until Henry spoke up excitedly.  “The curse... I think you broke it!”

Before Emma could respond, Mother Superior spoke.  “That was true love’s kiss.”  Emma turned to look at her as her facial expression turned hard and sharp at Regina.  “If I were you, your Majesty, I’d find a place to hide.”

Since Regina still looked out of it and Whale was also giving her a dirty look, Emma decided she had better say something before things got out of hand.  “Ok, I realize you may not like her very much right now, but you guys really need to cool it.  How about you guys give us the room for a bit so we can be with our son, seeing as how he did almost just die and all.”

Whale looked like he wanted to complain, but stopped as Emma narrowed her eyes at him and began reaching toward her sheriff’s belt.  Mother Superior saw her hand and tugged on the doctor’s arm to lead him away from the room.

“Emma?  What’s going on?”  Henry asked his birth mother, sounding very confused.

Once sure their uninvited guest had left, the blonde turned back to Henry.  “Believe me Henry, I wish I knew.”  She said as she eased the still disoriented mayor into the chair next to the bed. “Gold must have done something to her while I was trying to get the potion from the dragon under the library... I don’t believe I just said that. Gold betrayed us.  He tied up your mom, sabotaged the elevator I was in, and stole the potion.  We were going to go after him until we got the call that you were getting worse.  By the time we got here, they said it was too late.  But then you woke up again after I kissed you.”

“My mom helped you break the curse?!”  Henry asked incredulously.  “But what’s wrong with her?”

Emma shook her head turning to look at the brunette again.  She was leaning forward in the chair so that her elbows were resting on her knees as she clutched her head with both hands while  pushing her palms into her eyes to ward off a pounding migraine.  Though she was quiet, she seemed to be in a lot of pain.  “I don’t know kid.  I’d ask someone to look at her but seeing as how Whale and Mother Superior were reacting to her just now, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

Henry bit his lower lip as he looked at his mother.  On the one hand, he was happy they broke the curse.  He was even happily surprised that his mom had been helping Emma to do it.  But something was happening to her now.  She was in a lot of pain.  He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to feel about that.  She was the Evil Queen, so she was supposed to be punished, but seeing her like that made his stomach turn painfully.  He was pretty sure that he wasn’t supposed feel sad about what was happening to her, but he did.

Suddenly, they heard a commotion from outside and they looked out to see a large purple cloud quickly blowing in from the forest.  “Okay,”  Emma yelled in exasperation. “Now what’s going on?!”  Mother and son could only stare in wonder as the cloud was already halfway to the hospital.  She quickly turned to Henry and started removing any remaining wires and monitors attached to him.  Emma managed to get him off the bed and onto the floor at Regina’s feet, making sure to cover him with her body as the purple cloud began to envelop  the hospital.

From the corner of her eyes she saw to her horror that the walls did little to protect them from the cloud as it started pouring into the room.  They may as well have been out in an open field for all the protection they provided.  As the cloud passed over them it seemed as if nothing happened, but then suddenly Regina began screaming in agony above them.  Emma felt horrible about not having done anything to protect Regina. However, she had to protect Henry, and she knew that Regina would have approved. She glanced up to see Regina sitting up straight on the chair, head back as her hands vigorously clutched at her head as she screamed in pain.  She felt Henry wriggling beneath her, likely to either look at or go to her.   “Emma!  Let me go!  It’s killing her!”  Emma’s heart was breaking both over the obvious pain Regina was being put through, and the tears in their son’s voice as he struggled to go to his mother.  

“I’m sorry Henry, I can’t.”  He continued to struggle beneath her, until Regina finally stopped screaming.  Emma quickly shot a glance up toward the queen to see her unmoving form slumped against the back of her chair head lulled to the side.   She felt her stomach twist and turn as a cold fear gripped her.  Did that whatever-it-was kill her?  She could only imagine what that might do to Henry.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, the purple cloud dissipated from the room.  She moved off of Henry and quickly turned to examine his mother.  Henry didn’t waste any time and quickly joined her.  “Is she...."

“I don’t know, Kid.”  Emma placed two fingers to an olive toned neck and felt for a pulse.  She breathed out in relief, as she felt the steady beat of blood flowing beneath her fingers.  “Oh, thank God!”

Henry, wrapped his arms around his mother’s body and began crying.  Emma felt awkward and guilty watching Henry crying as he sought comfort and reassurance from his mother’s inert form.  Thankfully, Regina gave out a little groan and Emma saw Regina’s eyes slowly flutter open.  Half lidded brown eyes met Emma’s green.  “Emma?”

Before the sheriff could say anything Henry yelled, “MOM!  You’re okay!”

Suddenly,  the brunette became aware of her son’s embrace, and returned it with as much strength as she could in her weakened state.  “Henry!  Oh thank God you’re okay.  Why aren’t you in bed?”  Turning to the blonde, she asked.  “Emma, why’s he out of bed and where are the doctors?  Someone needs to check on him and make sure he’s fine.”

Henry shook his head.  “I’m okay mom, but how are you?  Are you alright?  Are you hurt? What happened?”

Regina shook her head as she reluctantly let go of him, so she could look at him better.  “I’m fine Henry, I feel a bit fuzzy for some reason, but I’m fine.  It would seem I must have fainted from the shock of your rather  miraculous recovery.  Where is Whale?  He needs to be in here looking over Henry.  This is unacceptable.  Emma, could you go try and locate Whale or at the very least a nurse?”

Emma nodded her head dumbly for a moment as she stepped out of the room.  Something decidedly strange was going on here.  For one the hospital seemed quieter than usual.  She couldn’t see a nurse or doctor anywhere down the hall.  More than that, what was that purple cloud and what had it done to Regina?  She went from being dizzy, to screaming in pain, to... calling her Emma?!  In almost a year of knowing the woman, Regina had NEVER called her Emma.  Yet the  brunette had used her given name three times in the last five minutes!   She had even asked her to find someone, instead of ordering her like she normally would.

If all that wasn’t already odd enough, she couldn’t seem to find a single nurse or doctor.  Hell, she’d be happy if she found  a janitor at this point.  Just as she was reaching the elevator to try her luck on a different floor, two nurses stepped out of one.   “Oh, hey.  I... uh... need some help.”

One of the nurses, a young blonde with short hair smiled nervously at Emma.  “Of course Sheriff...."

The older brunette nurse next to her blanched and immediately interrupted her.  “My apologies, Your Highness.  How can we help you?”

Emma’s eyes widened.  She felt extremely uncomfortable with the way the women were addressing her, much less the way they were looking at her with fear and nervousness.  “Sheriff is fine or hey Emma is good too.”

Seeing the younger blonde about to respond the older nurse quickly spoke up.  “That is too kind of you Sheriff.  How can we help you?”

Unsure what to make of what just happened, she decided it was best not to think too much about it and instead stick to business.  “We were kinda hoping someone could check on Henry.  He’s out of his coma or curse or whatever and figured someone should check to make sure everything is alright.”

“Of course Your... uh Sheriff.  We’d be glad to.”

“Also if you could, something happened to Regina as well.  She’s acting a bit weird.  If you could look at her too, I’d really appreciate it.”

The younger nurse went pale on hearing her second request.  The nervousness she had been displaying jumped to fear bordering on panic.  The older nurse, whose name tag Emma could now see said Brenda,  was able to control her expression better, but Emma could tell she wasn’t too thrilled about the request either.  “Of course.  Stephanie can examine Henry, while I look over the… um… her.”

Nodding, Emma lead them back to Henry’s room.  She could understand part of their hesitancy to deal with Regina, though Stephanie’s  reaction seemed a bit extreme.  Though she supposed she wasn’t just a bitchy mayor anymore, now she was Regina the curse wielding Evil Queen.  But was she ever not the Evil Queen?  It’s not like she ever actually forgot who she was.  So in a weird, roundabout kinda way, they should be a little relieved.  After all, if she really wanted them dead, didn’t she like have 30 years to do it already?  So it was a good bet that if she hadn’t tried to kill them yet, she wasn’t going to suddenly change her mind.

Her inner musings were interrupted as they approached Henry’s room by loud voices.  She was afraid Whale or Mother Superior came back to cause trouble while she was gone and took off running the rest of the way to the room.  The two nurses following after her weren’t exactly  in a hurry to get there and continued walking slowly behind her.  When she arrived, she was relieved to see there wasn’t anyone else in the room aside from Regina and Henry.  

However the happy family reunion that was taking place in the room when she left was apparently over.  Henry had  moved back toward his bed and was glaring at Regina, who not only looked heartbroken but was crying as well.  “What’s going on here?”

Regina and Henry both turned to look at her.  She could see the anger and betrayal coming off of Henry.  Given how she found them, she could make a fairly good guess as to the reasons.  Honestly, it could’ve been any  numbers of justifiable things that led to their current standoff.But looking at the sheer amount of raw emotion on Regina’s face, that feeling of wrongness she’d been feeling for a while now just grew stronger.  It wasn’t just the hurt look on her face, since she knew that Henry was the gaping hole in her otherwise impenetrable emotional armor.  She could even understand the intense look of desperation.  What she couldn’t understand was the look of relief at her presence.  She could see some of the stress leave  her the moment Regina caught sight of  her, as if a heavy burden had just been taken from her.

“Emma!  She’s doing it again!  She’s trying to trick me into thinking that curse isn’t real!”

Regina sighed and turned pleading eyes to her.  “Emma, please talk to him.  After everything that’s happened today, after almost losing him… I really just… can’t deal with him being like this right now.”

“I’m not so sure there’s anything I can really say.  Seems like the cat’s already out of the bag, if you know what I mean.”

At first, Regina could only stare at her dumbly, before she reeled back with a stunned look of betrayal.  “I… w- what?  H- how could you.…”

“Look, we can really talk about this stuff later once we know both of you are alright and that everything isn’t going crazy out there because of what happened or that purple cloud.  okay?”  

The sheriff stepped aside to allow the nurses to examine them. Stephanie immediately went to Henry’s side and began looking him over.  Brenda’s exam however was impeded by a very irate  mayor.  “Your Majesty, if you will allow me to...."

“Go away, I don’t need to be looked at. I’m fine.”

“Like hell you are, Regina.  That purple cloud did something to you.  You’re looking pale and I’m sure your head is probably killing you still.”

Regina looked like she was going to argue with her, but then the blonde saw some kind of emotion flash across her face.  She looked down and sighed,  “Very well, do whatever you need to do.”

Emma traced the brunette’s vision and noticed Henry still giving Regina a reproachful look while Stephanie was examining him.  “Kid, stop looking at your mom like that.  I honestly don’t get half of what’s going on, but you were right here with me when that purple cloud came through.  You know it did something to her, so cut her some slack, okay?”

Henry looked down in shame at the mention of that purple cloud and no doubt the memories of hearing his mother screaming as if she was being tortured only minutes ago.  “I… but she…”  He turned his head up to look at her with desperately pleading eyes just as his mother had moments before.  “You know it’s true right?  You believe me?”

Looking at her shoes she said, “Ya kid, I do.  But...."  She trailed off not knowing what to say.  She looked up again to look at Regina and felt her heart drop a bit at the look on her face.  The woman looking back at her wasn’t the same woman who had forsaken her curse to save Henry’s life in the storage closet.  It wasn’t the woman who had accompanied her to the library or who she shared an anxious and fearful car ride back to the hospital.  Instead, she resembled the mayor who often came to the station to ride her on tardy/improperly filled out forms or who would complain about how much time she was or wasn’t spending patrolling the town.  “Well there isn’t a curse anymore, but something happened to you, Regina.  I’m not really sure what, but I think it had something to do with that purple cloud that came through after Henry.…”

“Ms. Swan!”  Interrupted Regina with an irate look on her face.   Two little words.  She couldn’t believe the impact two little words, one of which was her name, could have on her.  Since she had dragged Regina  into the hospital’s storage closet and forced her to admit the truth, they had been on surprisingly good terms.  Now that she broke the curse,  things were probably going to get really ugly really quick, like they almost did in the room earlier with Whale and Mother Superior.   If she and Regina were on good terms that could go a long way to smoothing things out.  The way they had worked together to break the curse and Regina opting to use Emma when addressing her where huge positive signs.  But of course she had to throw a toolbox full of monkey wrenches at it and now she was Ms. Swan again.

She opened her mouth to respond in an attempt to fix the mess she made, but was cut off yet again.  “I suggest you stop now Ms. Swan, before you force me to reconsider the custody agreement.”

This caught everyone’s attention, even the nurses that had been looking over them.  It wasn’t a secret to anyone in Storybrooke what the reason for most of the Sheriff and Mayors fights were about.  Though she’d known about the curse now for a few hours it hadn’t occurred to her what they might do about custody of Henry, since they’d been too busy trying to keep him alive.  But for Regina to bring up the idea of a custody agreement between them, it was simply unimaginable.  She had to fight the woman tooth and nail  just to take him out for ice cream, and now she is offering up legal custody?

“What custody agreement?”

Regina sighed deeply.  “Please do not act like this is a surprise.  We spoke of this briefly while we were in the library.”

The blonde could only stare at her in confusion.  Her internal lie detector was utterly silent, yet she KNEW without a shadow of a doubt they most certainly did NOT talk about a custody agreement in the library.  Hell they hadn’t even spent five minutes together while they were there.  Nearly as soon as they had gotten to the library, she was sent down the elevator shaft to fight that dragon.   Afterward she had to untie the woman who had been bound and gagged by Gold.  Now she was nearly completely positive that the cloud had somehow fried her brain.  Still, if the woman was gonna offer a custody agreement, you can bet she’d take her up on it.  “Are you being serious?”

“Of course I am.”  Regina spoke with clear exasperation in her voice. “ Not only do we have two witnesses, but I do not believe in false promises.  Especially not to my son.  Technically it’s already been written up, all you need to do is sign the forms.  There are ,of course, conditions, primary being that you stay in Storybrooke as we already discussed and that you acknowledge that I am the Primary custodial parent. It will all be done legally, so you don’t have to be afraid that I will rescind the privilege at a later date if you ‘happen to upset me’ as you so aptly stated earlier.  As long as you follow the conditions stated within the contract, I will abide by it regardless of how we may feel about the other.”

Henry was looking at her with wide eyes.  The blonde was sure she was sporting a similar look.  But, if the forms were already written up and awaiting her signature, then when had she had them drafted?  The curse hadn’t been broken long and Regina had been with her continuously since the confrontation in the hospital.  “How long ago did you start the paperwork?”

Regina looked a bit uncomfortable now.  “It doesn’t actually matter does it?  In any case, it was actually the reason I invited you over to the house.  I have been thinking about... a lot of things for a while now, and I came to the conclusion that perhaps what all of us needed is a new beginning.  A do over, if you will.  So I had the paperwork done.  I called you once I received word that everything was settled aside from our signatures.”

An idea was starting to form in Emma’s mind, but it just couldn’t be... right?  “Wait you said you called me?”  She did remember Regina saying she was going to call her when she had come over earlier.

Regina gave her a puzzled look on her face.  “Yes, I even left you a voicemail.  I assumed that was why you  had come over.”  There was a bit of an awkward pause, before Regina continued again.  “It should still be in your messages if you haven’t already deleted it.”

Emma shrugged.  She knew she hadn’t gotten a voicemail from her as she had checked it earlier, but she figured she should see what came of all of this.  Grabbing her phone she brought up her voicemail and there it was.  It was sandwiched between two voicemails from Mary Margaret that she had listened to before reaching the library.  Mary Margaret?  Should she be calling her Snow White now?  or maybe just,  Snow?  But if Henry was right...  mom?  

Deciding to drop that line of thought in favor of the current situation, she hit play and put it on speaker.  “You have 1 new message from... Regina Mills... received... today...  at... 8:33 AM.”

“Ms. Swan, there is a matter we need to....”  There was a long pause where it seemed the Regina on the phone was rethinking her words.  It was very unlike the mayor to stop mid conversation to second guess herself.  Looking over at the Regina with them, Emma could tell she was extremely uncomfortable now and... was she nervous?  After a few more seconds, she heard the recorded Regina clear her throat.  “Emma, it’s me Regina.  There is something I would like to talk to you about,  can you come to the... you know what?  Nevermind.  I’m going to take the rest of the day off.  What I’d like to talk to you about is personal and I think it might be better if we spoke at home.  Can you meet me there?  I’m just going to gather a few things here and I should be home by nine or so.  okay... well I’ll see you then.  Bye.”

Emma looked about as the message played.  Henry had this adorably, goofy wide eyed expression with his mouth hanging down somewhere around his knees.  Regina, on the other hand, looked beyond mortified.  The mayor was shifting about nervously like she had to pee and her face had turned redder than the blonde’s leather jacket.  She quickly hit save as there was no way in hell she would ever delete that message.  Not in a million years or for a million dollars.

Before Emma could comment on it, Brenda moved away from the mayor and turned to face her.  “Her Majesty looks to be in perfect health, as does Henry.  We should get going.”

Emma nodded at them, but stopped them a second later.  “Could you... uh ... not tell anyone we’re still here?  We had a bit of an incident earlier and seeing as how we’re still trying to work things out, I’d appreciate it if you could just tell everyone we left.”

Brenda looked from Emma to Regina to Henry and back.  After a moment, she nodded her head.  “Of course, your highness.”  She bowed her head to them and quickly headed out of the room with Stephanie.

“Don’t call me that!”  Emma shouted to their retreating forms.   She turned back to the now composed mayor and their son.  She opened her mouth to speak but realized something.  “What about the turnover?”

Emma looked quizzically at Regina’s darkening face even as she tried to play it off by shrugging.  “Just an idea that popped into my head on the drive home.”

Henry looked like he was about to speak up.  “Henry.” His birth mother said to keeping from starting an angry tirade, however deserved it may or may not be..   He turned to look at her, but said nothing.  He sighed and his shoulders slumped.  She supposed he did have a right to be upset, he was put under a sleeping curse after all, but right now wasn’t the time for this.   For all they knew there could be a mob or something surrounding the hospital like in the end of Beauty and the Beast.  Wait a minute.  If there were trolls and beasts in Fairytale Land or whatever it was called, are they going to turn back now that the curse was broken?  What about Archie? Would he become a cricket now?  What if she accidentally stepped on him while she was jogging?   Shaking her head she looked toward  Regina again.  “You were saying about the turnovers?”

Regina cleared her throat.  “Yes, well, like I said it was a bit of a spontaneous gesture since I know you and Henry love high calorie, cavity inducing treats.  I also thought it might be a great way to celebrate the new change in the status of  our relationship.”

Emma looked at Regina for a moment, unsure of where to go from here.  After the nurses left Henry had sat down on the bed he had been in not that long ago.  He she was surprised he hadn’t tried to say much more other than he had.  Though given how everything has been so complicated and just crazy she shouldn’t have been.  He’s really probably just trying to figure out what to feel.  On the one hand he was right about the Curse and who Regina was, but the incidents with Whale, the purple cloud, and how she was acting now likely reminded him that she was his mom.  So he was probably feeling some pretty strong and confusing mixed  feelings for her right now.

After a few moments, she reluctantly spoke.  “Regina, what do you remember from after we arrived in the hospital.”

“Emm... Ms. Swan.  With all of these questions you keep asking me I’m beginning to feel like you're trying to  interrogate me.”

“I’m  not trying to interrogate you Regina.  I was just following up on the topic you brought up before.  But I’m concerned  about you.  Whatever that purple cloud thing was, it hurt you.  It’s why I wanted the nurse to look at you and it’s why I’m asking you about it.”

"I remember we were in the library when we got the call that Henry’s condition was... getting worse.  I remember thinking how lucky we were that the call hadn’t come earlier when we were stuck in the elevator.”

“Wait a minute, so we were in the basement together?”

“At your own insistence.”  She quickly turned to look at Henry, not wanting him to think she didn’t care about him.  “Not that I didn’t want to help, but the library has a very old elevator.  It seemed dangerous for us both to go down and the stairs were inaccessible.  It turns out I was right, since the elevator got stuck halfway back up.  If it weren’t  for Emma climbing to the top, we would have been stuck there for quite some time.”

Turning back to Emma, she continued.  “Once on the top we got the calls, and we rushed to the hospital.  When we got here Whale and Mother Superior were both here.  Whale told us we were too late.  I remember crying.  You moved to his side.  I... I remember thinking how strong you were.  At that moment I couldn’t get closer to him. I wasn’t ready to accept it was too late, so I turned to cry into Whale’s shoulder.  The next thing I knew, I heard Henry gasping for air.  I quickly turned to look at him.  I was so shocked.  They said ...  but he was alive and awake and then... Well, I’m not sure exactly what happened after that.   I must have passed out, because the next thing I remember is Henry hugging me.”

Emma studied Regina closely.  Her super power continued to reassure her that the woman hadn’t told her anything untrue.  The blonde sighed deeply.  “That last part is what has me so concerned.  Just after the cu... uh after Henry woke up,  Well... something happened to you.  I don’t know what exactly, cuz you were acting out of it even before the purple cloud.  But after it hit, well... whatever it did definitely hurt.   So we were a bit worried.”

Regina sighed shifting her eyes away from Emma to Henry.  “So then, may I ask, what is your verdict?”

Emma felt a bit uncomfortable.  “Well,  for the most part, you seem pretty normal.”

Regina turned back to look at Emma and arched an eyebrow.  “For the most part sheriff?”

“Well you’re a bit... off?”   Emma could easily read the expression on the shorter woman’s face telling her to explain as if she were speaking it out loud.  She could even read  the added Ms. Swan at the end with her interesting  mix of condescension and curiosity.

Clearing her throat, Emma answered the unvoiced demand/question.  “Not everything happened exactly the way you remember.  When we were in the library, I had to go down there alone and deal with the overgrown lizard to get the thing Gold wanted.”

Regina vigorously shook her head.  “No, that’s not right.  We both did.  We talked while we were down there.”  Turning to Henry, she looked him in the eyes spoke again with a near pleading tone.  “I’m not making this up.  We both went down there; we were looking through books and talking.”  A bright smile suddenly lit Regina’s face.   “In fact, Ms. Swan, being her normal clumsy self, tripped and got a small scratch on her side.  How would I know that if I hadn’t gone down there with her.”

The blonde had to control her desire to laugh.  The way Regina presented her proof was so... unlike her.  It lacked all of her normal condescension and her smug superior attitude.  It sound more like... well... like a friend pointing out they just caught you red-handed trying to pull something over on them.  It was just so happy and carefree, Emma couldn’t help the smile.  

“Well Emma, do you?” Regina asked smugly.  

Emma smiled and lifted the bottom of her shirt a bit.  She noticed a quick flash of emotions passing across Regina’s face.  Most of her expressions past by too fast for Emma to identify, except for the last one which was clearly shock.  Emma didn’t know how she knew about it since she had received it from an errant piece of glass from what must have been her mother’s glass coffin while trying to evade a dragon’s fiery breath, but it clearly wasn’t what Regina was expecting from the look on her face.  

Seeing the cut on Emma’s side she immediately got up off her chair toward the younger woman.  “Oh my word Emma!  What happened?!   What I saw in the library was just a small, barely red scratch.  This looks like you barely managed to avoid being eviscerated.”

Emma looked down at what would likely be her future scar.  It was long and fiery red running from just above her waist positioned under her navel and traveling upward and to the right till just before her ribs.  Honestly, it looked a lot worse than it really was, it had barely even bled.  Though she supposed to someone who didn’t know better it must look pretty serious.

“You need to see a doctor  or at the very least one of those two nurses that was just here.  You may have this crazy notion that ‘it’s fine,’ but look at how red it is already!  That is some form of inflammation, add to that you received that in some dark abandoned basement that is probably teeming with a sorts of molds and bacteria, you could end up getting septicemia or sepsis or some other form of infection.  

Emma gave Regina a flat look.  “Regina I’m not gonna get sepsisemia or whatever.  I’m fine.”

Regina bristles at that.  “You certainly are not.  Henry, watch over your other mother while I go find one of those nurses that was just here.”

She was too focused on her new goal to notice the incredulous wide eyed stare Henry was giving her.  Nor did she notice that he hadn’t so much as blinked much less moved to do as she had asked.  She did however notice when Emma moved in front of her to block her progress out of the room.  “Regina, I’m fine.  Don’t worry about it.  Besides, those nurses are probably long gone now.  Besides I’d rather you not go out there alone.  It’s not safe right now.”

Regina looked at her for a long moment, before finally nodding her assent.  “But if you don’t want one of the nurses to look after you, I will.”  There was no room in her voice for discussion.  She was going to be treated by a nurse or Regina herself.  When Emma didn’t move to let Regina out, the brunette turned towards her son.  “Henry, can you grab me that tray with all the multicolored tubes by your bed?”

Henry nodded his head and moved to grab it.  “Sure mom.”  He brought the tray with the multicolored tubes and various stickers all along the sides to his mother.  “What is this for?”  He asked her curiously.

“This is actually a phlebotomy tray Henry, they use this when they need to draw someone’s blood.”  Seeing the looks on both of their faces she quickly adds,  “it should also have bandages and antiseptics.  Ah there we go.”  She grabbed a small blue tape dispenser, two handfuls of cotton gauze, and three small brown tubes within a plastic wrapping.  She put the gray on the floor and gave the items to Henry to hold for her.

Emma’s eyes widened a bit as Regina knelt in front of her so that would be at eye level to the wound on her abdomen.  Regina lifted the bottom of Emma’s shirt again, bundling it up as she did to ensure it stayed up until she was done.  Once she was satisfied, she turned to Henry and said.  “Henry, can you give me one of the alcohol packets.”

He gave her a small white packet, which she quickly opened.  “This may sting a bit, try not to squirm.”  She then brought the alcohol swab to the center of the gash and started wiping it in a small circle moving outward.  She motioned to Henry to give her another.  When he did she began wiping at the wound upwards in a semicircular motion making sure not to return over an area that was already wiped.

“Why are you doing it like that mom?  Wouldn’t it be better to just go from top to bottom or just go back and forth?”

Regina smiled toward Henry.  “That’s a very good question Henry.  While it might be faster to do it like that, doing it this way is better because you ensure you don’t accidentally push dirt or germs into an area that has already been cleaned.  So you start from the center and wipe outward.  Plus it also cleans the area around the cut as well.”

Emma looked down in amazement as Regina Mills knelt down before her to tend to her wound.  She could only stare in silent wonder as she began teaching Henry the medically preferred method of sanitizing or something.  The blonde was impressed, if she didn’t know better she would have sworn the woman before her was a seasoned nurse or a doctor.  As she reached the top of the gash, she got another alcohol pad from Henry and returning to center she began heading downward.  

As Regina began cleaning lower Emma noticed where the brunette put her hand on her lower abdomen to steady herself.  At first, she wasn’t phased by the hand.  But as Regina’s cleaning went lower down her abdomen she began feeling a little uncomfortable.  It wasn’t sexual in any way, but it was approaching her more intimate areas.  Areas that hadn’t been touched by another in a very long time.  So she was quite relieved once Regina reached the end of her wound.  But instead of finishing up, she turned to Henry and asked for an iodine packet.

Henry gave her a confused look.  “Uh?  You want the what?”

“The brown tube in plastic.  It’s another form of disinfectant.  Considering where we were and how long it has likely been since anything down there was properly cleaned, it is probably a breeding ground for numerous germs.  It’s probably best we double up.”

“That’s okay Regina, what you did is plenty good.”

Regina looked up at her scandalized.  “Do you know the types of bacteria and molds that live in those kinds of areas?  You could easily get Staphylococcus aureus which could cause a number of things from boils to sepsis to even necrotizing fasciitis.  That is flesh eating disease Emma! Look how red your skin is, that’s a clear indication of inflammation which could be due to infection.  So let me just do this.”

Emma just looked at her in shock.  “Ok jeez!  Sheesh, you win.”  Regina smirked clearly enjoying her victory.  Showing Henry how to use the iodine packet, she once again went about applying it to her wound starting from the top and heading down.  Throughout all of that her left hand never left its place.   She felt it slide out toward her hips where she gripped it lightly as she began working.  Things again got worse as Regina made her way down.  Not only was she returning to those uncomfortable areas but her left hand was slowly sliding down as well.  As she neared the end, her left hand slid down nearly to the waistband of her jeans and she felt herself shiver slightly from the touch.

Regina, who until now was completely engrossed in the job of applying the disinfecting iodine solution to her skin, suddenly looked at her worried she may have hurt her in some way.  “Did I …?

The blond shook her head.  “No it’s alright.  Let’s just hurry, we’ve been here too long.  It’s making me a bit uncomfortable, we need to get you somewhere safe.”

Regina’s eyebrows pinched in confusion, but she simply nodded her head and quickly finished.  “Ok Ms. Swan, where should we go?”

Emma thought for a moment.  “Where did you say the papers were?”

“As I had hoped to present them to you with a snack, they would be at home.”

“Ok, then we go there.”

“But, won’t they look for her there?  It’s kind of an obvious place to start looking for her.”

The blonde shook her head.  “Nah, by now they should’ve realized she isn’t home.  But I’m sure someone will remember she was at the hospital, which is why I want to get going.  Who knows how long till they get here.  So come on, let’s get to the cruiser.”

With Emma in the lead, the three of them quickly made their way out of the hospital to where they had parked her squad car.  They had almost made it back to the ambulance bay when they were stopped by a shout.  “Your Highness!”  Emma cringed from both being caught and the title used to address her.  When she turned around she was relieved to see it was only nurse Brenda.

“Brenda?  What’s going on?”

Brenda looked at Emma and then at the young boy who, though recently hospitalized himself, was now standing in front of his other mother in an attempt to shield her.  “I thought you would like to know that after leaving your room, Stephanie and I ran into a suspicious looking man trying to sneak into the psyche ward.  I believe he said his name was... Jefferson.  I don’t know if that is his name from here or from back home.  I can’t say that I’m familiar with either of his personas.  Regardless he didn’t seem to have a legitimate reason for going down there, so I had to call Brian, or Richard, I guess... from security to escort him out.  I thought... given your circumstances... and position, you would want to be made aware.”

“Jefferson?!  What the hell would he want from the psyche ward?”

“Ms. Swan!  Language.”  Regina said sharply while indicating Henry with a nod of her head and an odd gesture with her lips.

Emma raised her hands in apology.  “Sorry.  Thanks Brenda.  You did the right thing.  Jefferson isn’t exactly trustworthy or someone you take lightly.  Could you have someone from security, or something, posted there, in case he tries to come back?  I’ve got quite a bit on my hands with everything at the moment.  I could really use the help.”

Emma smiled at her in apology, but the nurse just waved it off.  “I’ll let Brian... err… Richard... I’ll make sure someone from security handles this your highness.  We’re a bit short staffed at the moment, since Whale and probably...  half the staff left after you.... In any case, rest assured I’ll make sure someone is there.”

She bowed to the group and headed off.  “Thanks.”  Emma said  to the retreating woman, but didn’t bother taking time to mention the title usage.  Just outside the door of the ambulance bay was the sheriff’s car, motor running and police lights flashing silently.

The three of them jumped in the car and sped off.  Nothing was said at first, until Emma drove past the turn for Main St.  “Um... Emma?  Where we going?  I thought we were going to my house?”

“We are kid, but if we go down main we’ll be seen by half the town.  Seeing as how your mom is sitting up here next to me, I figured it best if we go the  long way around.”

From the rearview mirror she saw him nod his head in understanding.  Things once again became silent as she drove nearly to the town limits before turning onto Grimm Drive, which ran through the western woods of town  in a semi-circle  near the town limit.  After several minutes of silence Henry once again spoke up from the back seat.  “Hey Emma, what do you think Jefferson was trying to do back at the hospital?

Emma shook her head.  “I wish I knew kid.  Somehow I doubt he was there to check himself in, heaven knows he needs to.”

“Do you think he was looking for someone now that... you know.”

Emma noticed him glance over at Regina when he paused.  She was thankful for that.  She didn’t know what was going on with Regina, but she didn’t think riling her up again would help any.   “I doubt it.  As far as I know his only family was a daughter that lived near him.  He wasn’t exactly affected like everyone else.  So I don’t know who he might be after.”

“What do you think mom?”  When Regina didn’t respond, he tried again.  “Mom?”

Emma looked across at her when she still didn’t answer.  Regina seemed lost in thought, so she reached over with her right hand to touch her shoulder.  As soon as they made contact, Regina suddenly turned to look at her a startled look in her eyes.  “Sorry, I was... a bit distracted.  Did you say something?”

“Are you okay mom?  I was asking you if you knew anything about what Jefferson was doing at the hospital.”

“I’m fine Henry, don’t worry about it.   I was just thinking about something and I got distracted.  As for Jefferson, I can’t say that I know what he was doing in trying to sneak into the psyche ward.  As far as I’m aware, Storybrooke General only has two long term patients.”

“What can you tell me about them?”

Regina shrugged.  “Well, aside from Mr. Glass whom you already know, there is Ms. Lacey French.”

“French?  As in Moe French the florist?”

“Yes, I believe she might be his estranged daughter.  She came to town a few years ago.  She was something of a thrill seeker.”

“Why is she in the psyche ward then?”

“Her thrill seeking activities led her to be involved in shooting and a severe car accident, which led to a severe case of amnesia.  I doubt, however, that Jefferson has any interest in an amnesiac.  With our history, I am quite sure he is planning something against me, so it would seem more likely for him to be seeking out Sidney.

“History?  What kind of history?”  The blonde asked curiosity written all over her face.

Regina sighed deeply.  “I’d rather not go into it all right now.  To summarize it, he and I went on a long trip together to bring my father back home.  Due to... extenuating circumstances beyond my control, I had to leave him behind to take all the heat.  Needless to say, we’re not all that close anymore. I don’t know everything that happened to him after that, but the next time I saw him... he was different.  He wasn’t anything like the man I used to know.  He made it quite clear he was going to come after me.  But that was years ago.”

“Well it seems he’s done waiting.”

For a minute no one said anything, as they arrived at the southern intersection of Grimm and Main.  After they crossed the street, Regina spoke once again.  “It would seem you are right.  As such  I believe it would be best if you could investigate the situation at the hospital sheriff, when you do please check in on Ms. French.  I’m afraid these events may lead to inattentive care for her.”

Emma nodded her head.  With the curse broken, she supposed it made sense to check in with the patients... prisoners?  Whatever they were, she should at least talk with them, especially that Lacey girl.  Not having met her, she knew next to nothing about the girl.  Snow White was supposedly Regina’s most hated enemy and yet, she was only turned into a meek school teacher who got to live freely in her humble apartment.  So, if her supposedly greatest and most hated enemy got to live a boring middle class life, what must this Lacey have done to deserve imprisonment in the psyche ward?  She must either be  the worst of the super villains or a full on crazy town nut case.  Whatever the case, she intended to find out.

The car once again lapsed into silence.  As they approached the closest intersection to Regina’s house on Mifflin Street,  Emma slowly drove close enough to the house to observe it, but far enough away to hopefully remain hidden from anyone who might be there.  As it turned out, there were two small groups of people there.   One group seemed to be the remnant of the expected angry mob; she even saw someone holding a pitchfork for goodness sake.   The remainder standing  between the first mob and the door was a smaller group that seemed to be trying to prevent the bigger group from getting to the house.  For the most part, it seemed as though they managed to protect the house, though they weren’t able to stop all the minor acts of vandalism taken against it.

Both Henry and Regina gasped as they looked toward their house.  The damage wasn’t all that bad.  Many of the windows had been broken and it looked like some people had thrown a few cans of paint at the walls, as they had been kind enough to just leave the empty cans on the lawn in front of their work.  Finally was the Pièce de résistance, in which someone had used red spray paint to leave a note proclaiming, “Death to the Evil Witch!”

Emma’s hand shot out to stop Regina who was reaching for  her seatbelt to likely storm over there and give that crowd a piece of her mind.  “Don’t!”

Regina turned to her with anger flashing in her eyes.  “Sheriff, those people have vandalized my home. Not only are you not doing anything about it, you are preventing me from doing so.  Now let go of me.”

“I’ll let go of you, if you stay in the car.  Regina, I know you’re upset, but if you go storming over there, I’ll have to go too.  But if we’re both over there, who is going to protect Henry?   These people are really mad at you.  If you go there right now, who knows what they might do.  I don’t want to take the risk that someone might hurt Henry in their zeal to get at you.”

Regina looked taken aback by what Emma said, but reluctantly nodded.  The blonde let go of her arm and the mayor went back to staring at her house.  As soon as she did, Henry reached over and grabbed her arm. Looking over at mother and son, Emma could see part of the tension just melt off the Mayor.  Emma could tell the olive-skinned woman was eager to say something, but for some reason held herself back.  Perhaps her words were not meant for young ears.   Regardless, it seemed as if the two of them were comforting and being comforted by the other.  Aside from the incident at the mine, she’d never seen the two look more like family than now.  Unlike that time, Regina wasn’t trying to push her away, which almost made her feel like she was a part of the little family moment.  Which was ironic given what she now knew.

They stayed observing the situation at the mansion, though Emma hadn’t turned off the car and was ready to peel out at a moments notice.  They didn’t have to wait much longer.  A few of the sentry group had been talking to the crowd and they slowly kept turning away one by one.  Once the mob had been cleared, some of the others who had been preventing the mob from further vandalizing the house started leaving as well.   Pretty soon only three were left, at which point one of them actually started waving them forward.  She was shocked they had been noticed, but after a moment of not feeling anything ominous coming from her gut, she began driving toward the mansion.

As she got closer, she saw it was Archie waving them forward.  She supposed that answered the question of whether he would become a cricket again or not.    Now feeling much better, she felt safe pulling into the driveway.  Though when she saw Mary Margaret and David nearby she began feeling uneasy again, albeit for an entirely  different reason.  If the curse was real , which she was fairly sure it was considering the dragon she fought and the purple cloud that  made its way through town,  then according to Henry they were... her parents?    She’d really hoped to not have to think about this for a while, but it appeared as if  she wasn’t going to get that luxury.  Looking over at them, she could definitely see some differences, more so in Mary Margaret than David.   They seemed... stronger... more confident and self-assured.  They were looking at her with both a nervous and eager look in their eyes.  That said, there was also a kind of emotional vulnerability hiding there as well that reminded her of  how she sometimes felt when being moved to a new house as a kid.

She could only stare at them through the car’s windshield.  Her actual parents were just a few feet away from her.  This was the moment she had dreamed of her entire life.   She should be running out of the car and embracing them.  So why wasn’t she?  She didn’t know.  They loved her, she could see it plainly all over their faces.  However, just seeing them was causing such an emotional upheaval inside her; she only hoped she wasn’t gawking or giving them a deer in headlight look.  As it was she wasn’t even sure if she could will herself to move out of the car.

Well, at least not until Henry spoke.  “Emma?   Are we gonna go inside?   Is it okay to stay here?   They’re not coming back right?”

Emma turned to look at Henry’s worried face in the back seat.  He wasn’t very sure about what he should be feeling toward Regina, but it’s obvious he didn’t want her to get hurt.   Before she had a chance to say anything, she saw his eyes widen with fear.  That caught her off guard for a moment.  She turned to look at Regina and she noticed that she adopted her likely trademarked evil glare.  She turned once again to see what had both Henry and Regina so upset and quickly came to realize her problem.  Due to the loving and adoring looks she had been getting earlier and her fear at the implications of them, she had, somehow, forgotten that  her “parents” and Regina weren’t exactly bridge club  buddies.  Sure enough, they were meeting Regina’s evil glare with one of their own.  Realizing that avoiding her parents was only going to make the situation worse, she decided she better just deal with it now.

Turning back to Henry, she looked him in the eye.  “You’re right kid.  Let’s get her inside.  Just give me a minute to make sure everything is okay and when I give you the signal rush your mom inside, okay?  I'll be in with you guys in a bit.”  Henry nodded his head eagerly in agreement.  “Regina?  Sound good?”  Regina also nodded her agreement, but chose not to say anything.

Taking a very quick moment to compose herself, Emma took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.    Almost as soon as she was out the door, Snow and David began to move toward her and cryed her name.  Emma quickly raised her hands palms out to stop them.  Turning to look toward Archie she asked,  “Is the house safe, for Henry and Regina?”

Archie nodded.  “The mansion is unsurprisingly quite secure.  They tried to break the door down before we got her, but they couldn’t manage it.  Thankfully we got here before they thought to try entering in through some of the windows they broke.  We actually thought she was hiding inside until now.”

Turning to look at her parents who were standing opposite her and the mansions door, she made a gesture to the two in the car to tell them to run to the house.   Henry and Regina were soon out of the car and heading quickly toward the mansion.  The “Hi Grandma, Hi Grandpa,” being the only words spoken until mother and son were safely inside the mansion.

As soon as they went inside,  Emma let her hands fall.  No sooner had she done so, David and Snow  crossed the distance between them and  hugged her tightly.  After a minute or so,  they pulled back, much to Emma’s relief.  “Emma...  Do you know what happened?  Do you know... who we are?”

Emma nodded.  “According to Henry,  you’re... Snow White and Prince Charming.”  Emma wanted to end it there, but she saw the hopeful looks on there faces.  Taking a deep breath, she continued.  “You’re... my parents.”

Mary Margaret’s face lit up with happiness and she could see the pride blossoming in David’s face and chest.  It was literally the fulfillment of all her childhood prayers and dreams.  She had parents.  Parents that obviously loved her.  Parents who  were... hugging her!

“Emma!  It’s you!  It’s really you!  You found us.  We always knew you would.   What happened?  How did you break the curse?  Why are you with Regina?  She needs to be...."

“Whoa... hold on...."  Emma sighed as she pushed back away from her parents embrace.  It had felt so good.  But their questions brought her back to reality.  It reminded her that although they loved her and obviously wanted her back, they had still sent her away in the first place.  Regardless of if it was for a “good reason”  or not, she was alone for twenty eight years!  How could living in Storybrooke be that bad compared to some of the horrible foster families she’d been placed in?  This was all so confusing for her.

She shook her head to help clear it.  She could figure out all of this later.  Right now she was dealing with something just as complex and confusing, if not more so.  It also didn’t help or simplify matters that her new found parents were already talking about doing stuff to Regina, especially not in her current state.   “Look , I don’t get everything about what’s going on,  but there isn’t gonna be any kind of doing anything to anybody going on, okay?”

Mary Margaret’s eyes widened.  “Emma, you need to be very careful with Regina.  She’s done many, many horrible things to us... to everyone!  You can’t trust her.  She cast the curse, she tried to kill you and got Henry.  Now she cast some kind of purple smoke to bring magic to Storybrooke.  We were coming here to....”

She would have likely said more, but Emma quickly interrupted her.  “She didn’t do it!  I don’t know what the hell that purple cloud thing was, but it had nothing to do with Regina.”

The brunette looked at her with pity.  “Emma,  you can’t know that.  This is exactly the kind of thing she would do.  She brought magic to Storybrooke, because she would  be weak without it.  She knew a mob would come looking to kill her and that she’d be defenseless without her magic.  So she brought it back.  We already spoke with Blue.  She said that the purple cloud brought magic to Storybrooke.  It must have been Regina who did it.”

Emma clenched her fist tightly and began pacing about them.  “Mary Margaret, I’m telling you, it had NOTHING to do with her.  When the curse broke she all but went catatonic.  Then that purple cloud thing came and... it did something to her!  I was with her from before the curse broke until just now.  When that purple cloud came it... it hurt her.  It sounded like she was being tortured.  It was awful.   Henry was with us.  He had to listen to his mom screaming like something was electrocuting her, or placing hot coals on her or something.  I had to literally hold him down from trying to run to her because I was afraid it might hurt him too!  So no, Mary Margaret, Regina had NOTHING at all to do with that cloud.  There is no way I’m going to let you or a crazy mob of fairy tale characters try to kill her or whatever for it.”

Her parents looked stunned at hearing that, which upset her even more.  Yes, Regina was hardly a kind person, she had plenty of evidence in her own experience with the woman.  But their reaction was automatic.  They saw a magic cloud and they rushed over to do... who knows what to her because of it.  There was a freaking  mob outside her door for goodness sakes!  That wasn’t justice, you don’t vandalize someone’s house in the name of justice.  This was straight up medieval mob vengeance.  They probably wanted some kind of crazy public execution like burning her at the stake  or the guillotine or something.    There was no way she would ever let anything like that happened.   She was just thankful that her parents broke it up.  Not that she understands exactly why they did it, given what they’d just told her.

David stepped closer and tentatively grabbed her shoulder.  “Emma,  we won’t lie to you.  We have a very complicated relationship with Regina.  She’s tried to kill us repeatedly.  She cursed your mother.  We tried to give her several chances, but she wasted them.  Once, she tried to kill Snow within an hour of her sparing Regina from an execution. “  

Emma felt her anger starting to rise.  However, before she had a chance to vent it at him, he raised his hand in a placating manner.  “I’m just saying that so you can see where we were coming from, given what had just happened and a lack of information about what was going on.  The last time we foiled one of Regina’s plans, she cast the curse.  So we had to expect that she might try to get some kind of revenge on you for breaking it.   If you say she had nothing to do with it then great!  That’s one less thing we need to worry about.  But Emma,  the reason I was in a coma for twenty-eight years was because I was dying when the curse reached us.  I was hurt, literally fighting my way through her guards to get you to the wardrobe.  Your mother barely had a chance to hold you after you were born, before I had to take you from her arms to make sure you made it out alive.  We wanted to give you your best chance.”

“BEST CHANCE?”  Emma asked incredulously.  “Do you even know the kind of hell I went through growing up because you decided to send me away?  If you hadn’t...  All so I didn’t have to go through this?!  I would have given anything for this.  This was the life I wished and prayed for EVERY DAY.  Alone, unloved, and unwanted... that’s all I ever was growing up.  All I....”

At that point Emma had to turn away from them, as she couldn’t keep back the tears from falling.  She was so angry, but at the same time she understood.  It would be completely hypocritical of her to hate her parents, who obviously love her, when she did the same thing.  She gave Henry up so that he could have his best chance, which he actually received.   It just happened her life turned out to be shit, but it could have ended up like Henry’s had.  She knew kids who got out of the system, kids who were adopted and had good families.   Regina was bad enough as a non-magical mayor, imagine what she must have been like as a magical wielding queen!  It was obvious they probably thought they were being sent to the 9th circle of hell or that ice planet from Star Wars.  It wasn't like they would have expected Regina to curse them to rural Maine for goodness sake.

Emma suddenly felt a wave of shame overtake her, causing a fresh flood of tears to escape.  She had wished and prayed for her parents growing up and beyond.  So, of course, she would greet  their love with anger.  It really isn’t a wonder why nobody wanted her.  Wow!  She was obviously really damaged.  She’d literally only had her real parents back now for a few minutes and she was shoving them away.  She could feel the tears falling, but despite her best efforts, she just couldn’t stop them.

Before she had much of a chance to do anything, she felt David’s hand encircle her shoulders.  Turning fully toward him she hugged him and began to quietly cry into his shoulder.  She felt Mary Margaret’s arms hugging the both of them.  “We’re so sorry Emma.  We thought we were going to spare you from hardship.  You were never supposed to be here alone.  The Blue Fairy told us we could only send one person through, so our plan was to send Snow through before you were born.  We wanted you to be safe.  But you came early and the curse was upon us, we didn’t know what to do.  I had to take you from Snow’s arms, which I know for a fact was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do, because placing you in the wardrobe was the hardest thing I have ever done.  We knew you would be safe.  The prophecy told us you would find us again in twenty-eight years.  We just... it never occurred to us that the life you would have to live would be worse than what we thought we were sparing you from.”

Emma thought about what she had just heard and her own experience with Henry.  She knew that she couldn’t have provided him any kind of a life.  She lived in the bug for over two years after leaving juvie.  Having seen how his life turned out, she knew she had made the right decision back then.  It had taken every bit of willpower to let him go and yet she hadn’t even held him before he was taken away.  She didn't doubt that if she had even so much as looked at him, she wouldn’t have been able to let go.  Yet both of her parents had gotten to hold her, her father had even laid down his life to try to give her a chance for a better life.  She wasn’t sure she would have had that strength.   Knowing how both of their lives had gone and knowing that they would meet again in ten years, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to give Henry up if she had held him back then.  She didn’t know that she would have made the selfless choice.  She could still hear the doctor’s words telling her it wasn’t too late to change her mind and how desperately she had wanted to give in.  Seeing the love in David and Mary Margaret’s eyes, how could she hate them for it just because her life hadn’t turned out as good as Henry’s?

Moving a bit, Emma embraced both of her parents tightly.  This is what she had always wanted.  “It’s okay, I understand.  I get why you did it, and I get how hard it must have been for you.  So, it’s okay.  We can work on being a family now... if you want.”

 

“Of course we do, sweetheart,”  Mary Margaret told her,  “We love you.  We’ve always loved you, and we’ll always want you in our lives.”

Emma hugged her family closer and more tightly.  “Thank you.”

The family reunion could have possibly lasted much longer, but just then Regina poked her head out the front door.  “Emma?  Is everything okay?”

Emma broke apart from her parents and turned to Regina.  “Yeah, everything's okay.  I’ll be there in a few.”

David and Mary Margaret looked at Emma, eyebrows knit in bewilderment.  The blonde could guess at the cause of their confusion.  Though she didn’t know David well before the curse broke, Mary Margaret had been her best friend.  So she knew better than most the intensity of the antagonistic nature of Emma’s relationship with Regina.  Not only had the mayor addressed her by name, but she sounded almost... concerned.  Still despite lacking Mary Margaret’s insider knowledge, David would also have easily known that this was hardly normal behavior between them.  “Emma?”

The blonde turned toward her mother.  “I'm not really sure myself.  Like I said earlier, she’s been a bit... off, since just after the curse broke.  I’m starting to form a theory, but I'm not quite there yet.  I’m pretty sure I’m about to go inside and confirm it though.  I’m also about to go inside and sign a shared custody agreement.”

Mary Margaret and David’s eyes nearly bulged out at that last bit of information.  “You’re WHAT?!”

Emma smiled at them.  “Yup, she drew it up herself.  She’s still the custodial parent and from what she’s told me about it I don’t really get all that much time, but I’m hoping that will change later.”

“Emma, you’re his mother, you shouldn’t have to sign any kind of form just to see your son.  Especially if it doesn’t give you much time with him, she doesn’t have any right to keep him from you!”

Emma shook her head.  “Look, I don’t know if it’s some anti-Regina thing, or if you’re projecting your desire to have raised me, or if it’s some weird fairytale land culture thing or whatever, but I gave him up.  I terminated all parental rights and signed a closed adoption.  In this world where we are living, I’m not actually even legally allowed to see him.  Plus, she raised him, from what, three weeks?  I was still in juvie at the time and after I was released I ended up living in my bug for over two years.  I’m thankful to her for those ten years.  She provided for him everything that I never had growing up.  It’s also part of the reason why I’m okay with what you guys did.  When you gave me up, you probably hoped I would live the kind of life he did.   So I get you’re trying to look out for me or whatever, but that's NOT how things work here in this world.  I love him, but I don’t just get to take him away from the mother that raised him because I gave birth to him.  I knew what I was doing when I gave him up.  I got pregnant when I was sixteen, gave birth to him in jail, and lived out of a beat-up stolen  car for years afterward.  I made the right decision for him, and I won’t belittle that decision by trying to take it back now.”

They looked liked they wanted to continue arguing, but Mary Margaret sighed deeply in defeat.  “Ok, but we’re going in there with you.  At the very least, I need some kind of explanation.  I honestly don’t think we can trust her and I’m not willing to risk her trying something to take you or Henry away from us after we just got you back.”

The blonde sighed.  “Fine, I’ll ask Regina if it’s okay for you to be there.   Let’s go.”

Once the three reached the house, the sheriff opened the door and called out for their host as she stepped into the entryway.  “Regina?”

“Oh good, you’re here...."  Regina’s words suddenly stopped as she turned the corner and saw the people who had come in with her.  Emma wouldn’t say that Regina had been excited to see her, but her face certainly fell on seeing the others in the house.   “And you brought my best friend’s not-yet-ex-husband and his paramour.  While I appreciate their assistance in dispersing the crowd of hooligans outside, and while I understand that she is your friend and roommate, I cannot condone their relationship.  I would ask you, Ms. Swan, to coordinate things with your roommate so as to prevent exposure to our son while you have custody of him.”

“You have no right to dictate what she can do with her own son, much less...."

“Excuse me?!  He is my son!”  She all but spat at the pixie-haired woman.  “I have every right to demand that he not be exposed to the philandering ways of someone he has come to respect as a male role model in his life.  It is also not unreasonable to ask for a little cooperation on such matters from my partner!  I rea...."  Regina’s diatribe suddenly came to a halt, her eyes wide in what appeared to be shock.  “I... uh... I mean from... the mother of my...  that is... from Emm... MS. Swan.   It is not unreasonable to expect a little cooperation from Ms. Swan.   Now we’re done here,  I’m...."

Regina made a vague hand gesture and walked off toward the living room without even trying to finish her current thought or the angry tirade of before.  Emma could only look at her parents with a raised eyebrow as if to ask  “See what I mean?”

Said parents could only stare off dumbly to where the former Evil Queen had stood.  “Did she just …?”

“I think so.”  Charming replied to his wife, though equally as baffled.

“So, I think my case about Regina being different has just been made for me.”  She had to suppress a laugh as her parents nodded their heads dumbly.  “Well then, let’s go in and sign the papers.”

As they made their way into the living room, Regina briefly glared at David, but she quickly closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath.  When she opened them up again she was in full Mayor mode.  She gave the couple a polite smile and indicated for them to sit.  Before Emma had a chance to sit as well, Regina grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.  “About before... I didn’t mean to... I wasn’t trying to  imply that...."

As Regina paused to sort her thoughts, Emma found yet another slight discrepancy in her behavior.  She was gesticulating more and more as the emotional level of the conversation increased.  Even now she was inadvertently doing so as she tried to collect her thoughts.  “It’s okay Regina.  Whatever it is, just tell me.”

“I... I don’t want to presume to tell you what to do in regards to Henry nor do I desire to tell you who you should associate with.  That said, I have very... strong feelings about this,  for reasons you should already know.  The fact that you share a home is... it puts me in an awkward position.  There really isn’t much I can do about it at this point, aside from demanding you move out.  Which I won't do.  Nevertheless, I would hope that from here on all major decisions we make regarding Henry be agreed upon and supported by the other.  We have to come to an agreement on things and both of us have to ensure they’re carried out.  I refuse to be the ‘mean’ mom to your ‘fun’ mom.”

Emma raised her hands in a placating manner.  “Hey, I get it.  No staying up till midnight on a school night and eating cake for dinner.”

“Yes, that is part of it.  Essentially I’m basically asking you to ‘back me up.’  Growing up my parents rarely agreed on the correct way to raise me.  Unfortunately I know I’ve picked up more from my mother than I would like, but I honestly do not wish to become like her.  I want Henry to understand that while I am strict at times, I do so because I love him and want to look out for his best interests. I realize that I have recently given you cause to doubt that due to jealousy and insecurities toward you.  But from here on in, we need to work together.”

“This contract is my first step toward that, because I think Henry’s life will be better with both of us in it and working together.  So, I need to ask you this once more.  Are you willing to commit to this?  By signing this form, you are making a legal commitment that will bind the three of us together for the rest of our lives.  Three years from now you can’t suddenly decide that Storybrooke is too stifling or too dull for your likes and leave for Boston, New York, Chicago, or whatever other place you might want to go.  I don’t say this to disparage your past. If you did sign this and then change your mind later, Henry would be devastated.  We don’t need to do this right now.  You can take some time and really think about this.”

Emma reached out and took the other woman’s hand.  “I’m sure.  Family is the one thing that I have yearned for my whole life. I have that now.   I’m not going to walk away from it now that it’s being offered to me, even if we don’t always see eye to eye and end up having huge fights.  I’ll be more than happy to be a part of this family, if you’re willing to have me.”

Regina quickly pulled her hands from the blonde and turned away from her towards the living room, where she could see Henry had arrived.  “Please, stop phrasing things to make it sound as if I had just proposed to you.  I just wanted to ensure that you were willing to commit to this.  As you are sure, let’s head back to the living room.”

Emma watched as the brunette quickly made her way to the living room, before following after.  When she arrived, she saw Mary Margaret and David Looking over a small stack of papers.  Assuming it to be the contract, Emma grabbed one from Mary Margaret and began reading it.  There weren’t many requirements placed on her aside from the mandate that she live in Storybrooke.  During the school week she was only given every other weekend starting Friday when he went to school and ending Monday at the same time.  During the summers or other extended school vacations, they would divide the time equally on a weekly basis.  Holidays would alternate between them every other holiday and would then switch the following year.  Finally, Emma was allowed free visitation rights during her noncustodial period.  Incidentally, this also had the side benefit of granting her full, legal parental recognition.

When she finished reading she nodded to Regina to indicate she was done reading and agreed to the terms therein.  “Well, it sounds good to me.  What do you think kid?”

Henry, who had the contract explained to him by Regina as she had been reading, nodded his head in excitement.  “Sounds good to me too.  But we have to use the official pens!”

Emma was thoroughly confused, but she could see a smile creeping up on Regina’s face.  “Official pens?”

“Yeah, whenever my mom is supposed to sign something from the city council to make it into a law, she uses her official Law Signing pen.  She always uses it when something is a big deal and this is a big deal, so we should use it.”  

Regina laughed fondly.  “Of course, Henry.  Just give me a minute to go get it.”

Once she was gone, Emma turned to her parents.  “So, the contract seems good to you?”

“Well it is surprisingly gracious for Regina.  I would’ve liked for you to get more days, but I suppose it’s surprisingly fair.”

“I will forever be in your debt for the support, Ms. Blanchard.”  Turning away from the couple sitting on her sofa she turned toward Emma.  “Here you go Ms.... Emma.”

Emma took the pen box from Regina.  Opening it she found what was probably THE most expensive pen she’d ever seen.  It was an all silver fountain pen.  It had a detailed engraving of wings going up the sides of the pen and at the top was an engraving of a crown.  The tip looked to be made of gold and some silvered metal.  “Jeez Regina, this pen is probably better than the one the president uses for this kinda stuff.”

Regina smiled at her for a moment.  “Thank you Emma.  My father gave it to me.  He got it for himself when he was younger.  I thought I would give it to Henry one day once he gets a bit older.”

Henry’s eyes became wide in excitement over his mother’s declaration.  “Really mom?  You want to give me your official signing pen?”

“Of course, Henry.  I thought it might become a family heirloom that one day you too might pass on.  But for now, will you do the honors Emma?”

Emma took the pen almost reverently out of the box.  It was pretty heavy for a pen.  Looking about the form she sought out where her signature was required and noted that Regina had already signed her part of the contract.  With both care and flourish Emma began signing the forms.  “There we go.  So by the power invested in me by Regina and the state of Maine, I now declare us an official family!”

Emma couldn’t help laughing at her proclamation and the reactions it garnered from the others.  Henry was clapping and laughing along with her.  Regina was scowling at her and muttering about how over exaggerated she was being, but it was probably one of the weakest scowls she had ever seen the mayor give anyone.  David looked utterly stricken as if he’d just discovered his winning lottery ticket was a fake.  Meanwhile Mary Margaret looked pensive and... conflicted?  She supposed that in a weird, semi-disturbing way, Mary Margaret and Regina were already a family once.  It must be kind of weird for her to be  bound as family again to the woman who had apparently caused her so much pain and grief in her past.

She had just been trying to make a funny joke by making that comment but in a strange way, she had been quite accurate.  They really were bound together now as a family.  Within one day her family had grown exponentially, which is pretty good for someone who had been a friendless orphan girl for twenty-eight years.  She knew in that instant that she would do anything to protect her new little family despite whatever problems or issues she might have with them.  Looking around she saw parents, her son, and her son’s other mother.  She saw HER family.

“This is a momentous occasion, we need to celebrate!”  The blonde proclaimed before turning toward Regina.  “Do you have any celebratory foods?”

“If by celebratory foods you mean fatty, high-calorie snacks with no nutritional value then yes, I do.  I also suppose that in the spirit of celebration, our guests can stay for the festivities.  Emma why don’t you find us a nice family friendly movie we can watch as we eat the snacks.”

Emma, Henry, and David crowded around the various shelves of movies.  The mayor had a huge library of movies in VHS, DVD, and even Laserdisc.  It took her a couple of minutes to notice as they were all browsing the video collection, but soon enough Emma noticed the slightly confused look on Henry’s face.  “What’s up kid?”

The question caught David’s attention and he turned to look at him as well.  Feeling a bit embarrassed at the way they were looking at him he tried to shrug it off.  “It’s... uh... nothing.”

Emma shook her head.  “It’s okay.  Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

Henry looked a bit hesitant.  “Well... I mean... I’m not sure really.  It’s probably nothing.  I just... I don’t remember having all of these movies.  I mean Mom has always gotten me a lot of movies, but... I don’t know.  It just seems like there are a buncha other movies here I’ve never seen before... you know?”

A title on a DVD just over Henry’s head caught Emma’s attention and she reached out for it.  Lifting an eyebrow she presented it to the others.  “Recién Cazado.  Is this in Spanish?”

“Yes, actually it is.  It’s really quite funny, though it isn’t exactly family friendly.  It has subtitles though, if you’d like to see it later.  I’m fairly sure you’d enjoy it.”

Emma turned to look at the woman who was setting the food on the coffee table when she saw it.  It didn’t take much longer for the others to notice it as well, as she heard the gasps and the sounds of David and Mary Margaret standing up.  There on the table was a platter of  several turnovers.  One platter that stood out most prominently in her mind was the one with the void on the parchment paper where a turnover had once been….

She saw the look of betrayal on Henry’s face as he looked upon the treats that had nearly cost him his life.  David’s hands were clenched tightly at his side and his face showed barely contained anger.  Mary Margaret was a bit hard to read.  She was certainly angry but her eyes, though dry, looked as if she were close to tears.  Even Emma herself had to try to fight off a cringe, despite having been told that the turnovers had been made specifically to celebrate the signing of the custody papers.  Regina, for her part, had continued laying down food until she heard the gasp around her.  She looked about in confusion trying to discern what had caused the commotion.  Noting the looks being directed at her, the confusion only grew.  “Is there a problem here?”

David took an angry step toward her.  “You bet there is.  How dare yo...."

Emma quickly extended an arm out to stop him.  She didn’t get a chance to say anything before Mary Margaret spoke up.  “You really can’t help yourself can you?  I can’t believe I was almost deluded into believing your lies yet again!  She trusted you!”  Mary Margaret tried to move forward and Emma let go of David to restrain her mother who kept trying to get at her former step-mother.

“Mary Margaret stop!  Just let me...."

Emma was unable to finish as her mother had neither heard her nor had she stopped in her attempt to get at Regina.   “You’ll never change!  No matter how many chances we try to give you, you always find a way to mess it up.   You’re a monster!”

The pixie-haired woman’s tirade came to an abrupt halt as Emma slapped her.  She looked at Emma in shock,  unable to comprehend what had just happened.  “Just STOP!  Look, I’m sorry but I know what it looks like and I don’t think that’s what is really going on here.  I know how easy it must be for you to jump to that conclusion, but just... not in front of Henry okay?  He’s already confused about his feelings right now and I don’t want what I think is a misunderstanding to influence that.  Just... let me figure it out okay?”

Seeing her mother nodding her head, she turned to her father and saw him nod as well.  She smiled at Henry encouragingly at Henry and moved toward a stunned Regina. She pulled the older woman back a bit away from the living room to give them a bit of privacy.  “Ms. Swan can you please explain to me why I was nearly accosted in my own living room?”

Regina could see the unease coming off of Emma.  To be honest, this was the part of things that Emma didn’t really want to think about.  The reason why everyone wanted to hurt the brunette.   The blonde took in the woman before her, trying to see through her and truly understand what was happening.  She supposed her mother could be right,  this could all just be some elaborate ruse to trick them into lowering their defenses.  The woman was a magical queen after all, who knew what her limits were.   However, something made her doubt it.  She could feel it deep inside, and her super powers had been quiet for  some time now.  She decided to take a chance to test her theory.

“I’m pretty sure it’s all over Storybrooke by now that the turnover you gave me put Henry into a coma.”  The Sheriff watched her intently for a reaction to the words she had just spoken.  She’d barely finished speaking as she saw all the emotions crossing her face.  It was difficult to spot, to be honest, as it was both buried and disguised.  Taking this as the proof she needed, she proceeded quickly.  “Relax. I’ll figure something out, don’t worry.  Let’s just go back in.”

Regina’s mask was now back on at full strength  and the emotions that crossed her face were too hard for her to interpret.  “Very well... I look forward to seeing what you will ‘come up with’ Ms. Swan.”

When they returned to the living room, she saw that Mary Margaret and David hadn’t even moved.  Henry, however, had his back to them unenthusiastically looking through the movie collection.  He turned to face them with a few VHS tapes in his hands.  “Emma?”

Emma sighed deeply and moved towards the coffee table where the pastry that changed her entire life sat.  Looking at her son she began,  “Henry, you know I’m really confused about all of this.  I don’t know anything about fairy tale land or curses or whatever, but I’m pretty sure that things aren’t exactly what they look like alright?”

The blonde noted the way Henry looked down at the movies in his hands for a minute before he nodded his head.  “I... yeah, okay.”

“Good, we’ll figure it all out.  I promise.”  Seeing the boy nod his head in agreement, Emma Turned to Mary Margaret. Emma winced a bit at the red mark on her face.  “I uh... sorry for slapping you earlier.  You were kinda out of it, and I didn’t know what else to do to get through to you.  I really need you to trust me on...."

“We do trust you,”  David said interrupting her,  “it’s her we don’t trust.  It’s JUST like before.”   David clenched his fists tightly at his side.   “I know you want to trust her, but... it’s just so hard for us to try to trust her yet again, when she’s always doing things like this.”

Emma threw her arms up in exasperation.  “So what, you want proof?  I thought you guys were supposed to be like... never mind!  Fine, I’ll get you proof.  But then you have to promise to trust me on this.  You need to promise me to stop all of this blood feud or whatever.  We signed an agreement to work together today.   Can’t we like look at this like some kind of peace treaty or something like that?”

The blonde looked pleadingly at her parents.  The pixie haired woman nodded her head.  “Ok, sweetheart.  Give us proof that Regina isn’t trying anything and we’ll use the contract you signed as a treaty between us.”

Emma’s eyes narrowed as she looked at them trying to see if they were being truthful or merely trying to placate her.  They both nodded their heads.  “We promise.”  David said he raising his left hand and placing the right over his heart.

It might have been a bit over the top, but she just couldn’t help the watery-eyed smile she gave him in response.  She’d never had anyone promise her anything that she felt she could so whole-heartedly believe.  This is why she knew that she had to prove her theory to them.  Not that she fully understood it herself, or even how she knew the little she did know.  Regardless, she knew she had to prove it, and looking at Henry silently watching them, she suddenly knew how she would do it.  

Reaching down to the table, she grabbed the turnover next to the void of the one already eaten.  Henry and her parents eyes bulged as they realized what she was planning on doing.  “Emma, don’t!”  Mary Margaret cried out.

Emma shook her head.  “I have to.  I need to show my son that he doesn’t need to be scared of his own mother.”  Turning to face Henry, she began again.  “You helped me believe when I was unable by eating this, and now I’ll help you by doing the same thing.”  Turning back to her parents, she said,  “Don’t forget your promise.”

The blonde turned to face everyone.  Henry looked so conflicted.  He wanted to believe, but the last time they were in this situation not that long ago, the turnover put him in a sleeping curse.  Her parents actually had tears in their eyes.  Regina in contrast to the others was in the corner of the room leaning against a wall with a bored look on her face.  This was her family now, and she needed to make sure the fighting ended.  So she raised the turnover to her lips.  She kept her eyes on Regina as she did so, pushing away any lingering doubts, as she saw Regina looking at her.  As she bit into one of the best turnovers she’d ever had, one of the differences about Regina that had plagued her since the curse broke finally became crystal clear.  As the woman pushed herself off the wall to stand straight, Emma realized the woman’s dark silky tresses had doubled in length since earlier in the day.

She looked at the expectant faces in front of her for several long seconds before she finally shrugged and took another bite of the warm gooey pastry in her hands. She couldn't help the moan of pleasure she made as she had yet another bite. Finally, as she ate the last piece she closed her eyes to savor the taste for just a little longer. "Wow! That was seriously the BEST turnover I've ever had. I know I'd still be tempted to eat another even if I knew it really did have a curse in it. Which by the fact that we're here talking about it means it didn't and that I was right. Regina isn't trying to kill us, trick us, or curse us. So we're cool right?"

Looking towards her family she saw her parents reluctantly nodding their heads toward her. Turning to Henry, she saw him scrunching his eyebrows as he tried to work something out in his mind. "I'm still really confused. What is happening with my mom, she's been acting weird since the curse broke."

The sheriff turned her gazed toward the mayor. She was standing off in the corner of the room trying to pretend as if she were uninterested. However, Emma could now clearly tell that she was. It was as if several layers of emotional walls and masks had been removed leaving the person underneath easier to discern. Not only that, but there was something about her that just felt off and made her look different. More than just the extra length to her hair, it was as if her whole body seemed taller, her face less... burdened? She knew something was off, but she just couldn't figure out why.

Turning her sight toward her parents, it suddenly hit her. Regina wasn't the only person who wasn't acting like normal. The fact that there was a mob in front of Regina's home was proof enough of that. Mary Margaret had also said that the purple cloud had to do with magic hadn't she? If it was, well then that probably explained why she had been in so much pain. It explained why, despite being exactly the same person this Regina looked just a little bit different. It was the same reason that Mary Margaret and David looked just a little different from the last time she had seen them. They were different.

Looking at those with her, Emma cleared her throat and  took a deep breath. "Look, I don't really understand how any of this works and I'm not like one hundred percent sure, but somehow or another, I think I've figured it out.  The reason why Regina has been acting differently is because now she is cursed!  Somehow someone or something managed to curse her into thinking that she really is just Regina Mills, the Mayor of Storybrooke."

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading and let me know what you think.


End file.
